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Normal, Day, Night Profiles for Dahua Cameras

CaliGirl

CaliGirl

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I would like my Dahua cameras to automatically switch from Day to Night mode and vice versa depending on how dark it is outside.

This will occur if you leave the "Profile Management" in "Normal"

However, when in "Normal" it doesn't seem to utilize that the settings that I have selected for my Night configuration. I appears to go into a full auto mode and not use the night mode I created on Conditions>exposure>night. It does use these settings when I have it set at scheduled time from day to night mode.

I had my night mode running last night at 1/2000 shutter to reduce headlight glare, when I switch the profile from "Schedule" to "Normal" the shutter gave up and the camera got super bright again.

1.Can you create custom day and night setups AND have the camera switch between them automatically as it gets dark? Or must I use the schedule tab to switch from day to night and have it use the night profile you create?

I have read the help guide and wiki and it doesn't really define how this works or doesn't work.

 
Crazykiller

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I don't know why Dahua doesn't make it possible to switch the profiles by using the integrated light sensor. Shouldn't be a big deal. I was expecting this as the default behavior, like you did. With all my testing and what I read here, it is only possible to switch the profiles by schedule or external trigger. I'll do the profile switching with my house automation through API calls to the cams. So I can decide to make it switching depending on sunrise or with a light sensor which is integrated in my HA.
 
CaliGirl

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Wow, I am really surprised this simple feature is not possible. The sunset and sunrise are different each day and it depends on the shade of the clouds of there is a enough light to switch from night to day profile.

Can you tell me more about the external trigger and API calls to the cams? Or do you have a link for a thread on this?
 
Crazykiller

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Yep, same with me. The integrated light sensor is only used for switching b/w and color mode. I think it would be easy to add a checkbox that profiles change depending on the light sensor and not on the schedule. Would be easy for me with sunset and sunrise because my home automation knows that for my longitude for every day, and you are right, depending on clouds it differs. So I could also use my PIR sensor, which has an integrated light sensor, to do the job. But in some situations it's worthless unless you get an additional light sensor for every situation. For example in my garage or in the house technics room without windows. I would really appreciate if Dahua would add an option to switch profile by the integrated light sensor for each cam.
Ryan did a post how to switch profiles with API calls:
nayr said:
took me a damn good while to figure this one out, so here it for anyone needing it in the future.. once again searches lead me nowhere so I had to resort to a bit of trial and error as the docs suggest this is not the way to accomplish this task.. but it is.

First setup your camera to be in Full Time profile for Day since you will be changing it externally now.

To switch to Day profile:
Code: 
http://username:password@IP-ADDRESS/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&VideoInMode[0].Config[0]=1
To switch to Night profile:
Code: 
http://username:password@IP-ADDRESS/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=setConfig&VideoInMode[0].Config[0]=2
Now I can have tailored configurations for day and night mode, then use my Automation system that actually calculates real sunrise/sunset based off lon/lat and has access to a few light sensors to trigger the switch when I want it to.
Click to expand...
 
Fastb

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Check these threads

Dahua Profile Management
Here's a script to switch profiles:
day/night switch
Some input from nayr:
Different settings for Day/Night

It's aggravating. I use "schedule" to switch profiles from DAY to night. Far from perfect. In Seattle, it gets dark at 4:30pm in winter, and 9pm in summer. Dawn varies a great deal through the year. (no duh, lol)

And with the Starlight varifocal, the "Focus" parameter is different if the IR Cut filter is in the optical path or not. So there are two "Focus" values, one for day and one for night. The camera switches from day to night, and the camera activates the cut filter. But the camera doesn't change the focus!

This was submitted as a bug, and I beleive a fix was released. But I can't find that thread.

Fastb
 
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framednlv

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I have a bunch of cheap ip cameras that does what you were expecting, except the WDR is not included in the separate night and day modes. I would really think that the two most liked brands on this forum would have this feature.
 
Myllerman

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framednlv said:
I have a bunch of cheap ip cameras that does what you were expecting, except the WDR is not included in the separate night and day modes. I would really think that the two most liked brands on this forum would have this feature.
Click to expand...
I agree, this is a bit annoying. It is still like this in newest firmwares. Should be simple code to fix..
Also what i want to do is to have IR off daytime (color) and IR manual 100% BW nightime. IR manual 100% gives slightly more light in my cams. SmartIR is somewhat lower in light output. I am sure the SmartIR senses overexposure but thats just glare of a metallic thing so it does not matter. I want full power.

I have not checked yet but can someone confirm if IR off during daytime even when its set to manual 100% in option ? Seems like wasting lifetime of leds and wasting power if its 100% during the day.
 
R

RFM

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Here's something to try. You have a copy of your settings so you can always go back. And I'm not sure what features that cam actually has.
Assuming you have Night showing color. At the Backlight page on Night change the mode to WDR and set at about +85. Might try Day at about +70.
This page will give you the most dramatic night views. Also try BLC for night and play with the numbers. A lot is just personal preference.
 
sebastiantombs

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Dahua and Hkvision do not market directly to the home user. Their products are targeted to true professional installers. A camera switching modes, from day to night is not as simple as it may appear. There are times during the day when a "night" mode is needed due to exceptionally low light. The normal day settings may be acceptable for that time period. Night settings are generally very different in terms of exposure, gain, compensation, balance, brightness, contrast, saturation and so on. Night settings won't work during the day and day settings won't work at night, they are both customized for each. The amount of memory and processing in the cameras probably won't allow automatic switch over. It can be overcome by using the day/night schedule selection but that requires changing the switch over time regularly as` sunrise/sunset varies.

The easiest way to handle them is use the sunrise/sunset utility previously mentioned and set the camera to a full time schedule. The utility will force the change at an appropriate time. The utility is straight forward, easily installed and easy to configure.

Overall, it's a small inconvenience compared to the advantages that a professional, or at least semi-professional, camera can offer when compared to the consumer junk.
 
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cctv-dave

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sebastiantombs said:
Dahua and Hkvision do not market directly to the home user. Their products are targeted to true professional installers.
Click to expand...
""The industry-leading Super Adapt technology can accurately recognize if the monitoring scene is indoor, outdoor or under wide dynamic range, and automatically adjusts the image settings to match the actual scene. It can avoid overexposure under intense light and improve the brightness of dark area to capture clearer details of targets, allowing users enjoy image performance upgrade in various monitoring scenarios. There is no need for manual image adjustment, greatly saving camera debugging times and costs for installers.""

Because so called professionals they are targeting aka trunk slammers, dont have a background of 20yrs+ experience. They want to sell to electricians not cctv experts.
Easily 90% of so called pros just install the cams on default and walk away.
If there is a problem ie custoemr not happy, they call the manufactuer for help and remote support.

A camera switching modes, from day to night is not as simple as it may appear. There are times during the day when a "night" mode is needed due to exceptionally low light.
Click to expand...
It doesn't help that Dahua and others use a simple LDR in many cams to contribute towards ICR setting and to a degree the image brightness interpolated with the sensor readings.
The LDR has no place in 2021 only being cheap to do.

The amount of memory and processing in the cameras probably won't allow automatic switch over.
Click to expand...
It quite easily could, as vendors were taking automatic control of such things 10yrs+ ago. It's not hard to do, based on the readings coming out of the sensor and some testing, and giving the user "sensitivity" settings.

It can be overcome by using the day/night schedule selection but that requires changing the switch over time regularly as` sunrise/sunset varies. The easiest way to handle them is use the sunrise/sunset utility previously mentioned and set the camera to a full time schedule.
Click to expand...
This is a hack because quite simply Dahua dont understand the problem.
The profile management schedule option in the last few years is their way of fixing it, but it's not suitable for a lot of situations.
For example why doesn't it have long/lat & date based scheduling ? Other vendors do this - because this was an ill thought out kludge to years of complaint.
Again its' not hard but no one internally thought / listened for it and they have had feedback on this years ago I guarantee you.

Overall, it's a small inconvenience compared to the advantages that a professional, or at least semi-professional, camera can offer when compared to the consumer junk.
Click to expand...
Yes but it falls quite short of what it could be.
Along with for example not recording ICR and image settings with presets in the PTZ models
 
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cctv-dave

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That's a fairly extreme viewpoint to take from what I wrote but if that's your understanding of it I clearly cannot help you.
 
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